


Little Girl, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-10-23
Updated: 2000-10-23
Packaged: 2019-05-15 02:49:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14782226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: Margaret tries to adopt a little girl.





	Little Girl, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

The Little Girl

By AJ

Her parents never took the young girl to church  
Never spoke of His name  
Never read her His word  
Two non-believers walking lost in this world  
Took their baby with them  
What a sad little girl

Bailee Renee Taylor is what her parents called an accident child. They never meant to have her. But they couldn't afford an abortion, and for some reason they never bothered giving her up for adoption. And so parent hood was thrust upon them.

Sometimes, when you least expect it, one turns into a wonderful parent. Your parenting skills grow along with your child, and it ends up being a beautiful thing. Not for Bailee. Her parents never tried. They never wanted to try. They had their own thing to do, and Bailee wasn't apart of it.

If it weren't for the old lady that lived across the street, Bailee probably would have never survived very long at all. Mrs. Stevens was a nice lady in her late sixties when she first met Bailee. Bailee was this cute little toddler that never smiled. And Mrs. Stevens aimed to change that.

But as life goes sometimes, Mr. Stevens died, and Mrs. Stevens soon moved on. It broke her heart to do so, but it was something she had to do. She wanted to take young Bailee with her. Not like the Taylor's would have noticed, but that would have taken way too long, and Mrs. Stevens didn't have the time. She was, after all, an old broken down widow.

Her daddy drank all day and mommy did drugs  
Never wanted to play  
Or give kisses and hugs  
She'd watch the TV and sit there on the couch  
While her mom fell asleep  
And her daddy went out  
And the drinking and the fighting just got worse every night  
Behind their couch she'd be hiding  
Oh what a sad little life

After Mrs. Stevens left, Bailee was forced to spend more time at home. She never did anything, except watch television. She liked to watch shows that seemed to have the perfect family. Some of her favorite shows included: The Cosby Show, Family Matters, and of course Full House.

Bailee loved to loose herself in those shows. She would dream that she was one of the characters, and those were her parents. Her sisters, her brothers. Her uncles, aunts, grandparents. Her family. She longed for that so very much.

But without fail, every time her dreams just started to really take off, something happened to pull her back into reality. Either her mom would start shooting up some more and spaz out. Or her dad would come home drunk and pick a fight with her mom.

And like it always does, the bad just got worse  
With every slap and every curse  
Until her daddy in a drunk rage one night  
Used a gun on her mom and then took his life  


And like it always does, the bad just got worse With every slap and every curse Until her daddy in a drunk rage one night Used a gun on her mom and then took his life

The night before her last day of first grade, her dad came home, more drunk than he had ever been in his entire life. He took one look at his wife passed out on the couch, then around the room to all the crud piled up everywhere. You could barely even see the floor with all the trash that littered it.

Crashing into the recliner chair, her father pulled a gun out of his waistband and waved it in the air. He then looked back at his wife, who was beginning to stir. First thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the barrel of the gun pointed right at her, inches from her body. Then the lights went out. And his did too, soon after, for after killing her, he turned the gun on himself.

  
And some people from the city took the girl far away  
To a new mom and dad  
And kisses and hugs everyday

The lady that moved in to Mrs. Stevens house heard the gun shots and called the police right away. Within seconds, the quiet suburban neighborhood was flooded with police vehicles. Lights echoed through the trees and the bushes, and that's when she saw her.

"Hello?" Margaret called to the little figure hiding in the bushes. "Little girl, can you hear me?"

Bailee grunted a little as she moved to hid her face in her hands.

"Little girl, it's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Come out, please?"

Bailee whimpered.

"Please, come out... for me?" Margaret reached her hand into the bushes. "Please?" Margaret smiled as Bailee reached out for her hand. Once she had the little girl out of the bushes, Margaret picked her up. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"Ba...bai...lee." She trembled.

"Well hello Bailee. I'm Margaret."

Bailee looked up with large sad eyes, "H... hi..."

"Bailee, sweetie. Where do you live? Where are your parents?" Margaret asked, and Bailee pointed to her house. The same house that Margaret just watched two bodies wheeled out of. Margaret clung to the girl tightly. "Oh, Bailee." Margaret sighed.

"Excuse me, ma'am," a uniformed police officer said, approaching Margaret and Bailee. "Are you the one that called this in?"

"Yes," She said.

Bailee clung to Margaret for dear life at the sound of a male voice. The only male she has ever really known her entire life was her father. Her father that was always drunk and cursing at her. Her father that was always fighting with her mother. Her father that just killed her mother, then himself.

"And who is this?" the police officer used a soft voice.

"This is Bailee. She lives here." Margaret answered gravely.

~~~

"Margaret!" Leo stormed out of his office. "Margaret, I need the-" Leo almost tripped over his own words as he saw Bailee sitting at Margaret's desk. "Hello, little girl. What are you doing here?"

"I'm sorry Leo. I should have... I should have told you." Margaret walked up behind Leo.

"Told me what?"

"This is Bailee Renee Taylor. She was my neighbor."

"She was your neighbor?"

"Yes, now I'm trying to adopt her."

"Margaret," Leo sighed.

"I need your help, Leo. They won't let me adopt her. They say since I'm not married that I can't adopt her."

"Margaret!" Leo jumped to conclusions on what Margaret was asking him to do for her.

"Come talk to the adoption agency. Talk them into letting me adopt her, Leo. Please."

"Margaret," Leo sighed as she pulled him inside his office.

"Leo, her parents are dead. Her father... he killed her mother then killed himself." Margaret paused. "Leo, I really want to do this, but I need your help."

Her first day of Sunday school the teacher walked in  
And a small little girl  
Stared at a picture of Him  
She said I know that man up there on that cross  
I don't know His name  
But I know He got off  
He was there in my old house and held me close to his side  
As I hid there behind our couch  
The night that my parents died  


After having had to promise to keep the weirdness down to a minimum, Leo decided to help Margaret. Actually, he was going to do it anyway, but he figured he ought to at least get something out of it.

When everything was finished, and Bailee was now officially Margaret's, she was so overwhelmed with joy. So much, that she couldn't sleep.

Sneaking into Bailee's room in the middle of the night, Margaret sat in the chair that sat next to the bed and she placed a hand through Bailee's hair.

"NO!!" Bailee sat up screaming. "NO!!"

Margaret was out of the chair, and holding Bailee within a matter of seconds. "Bailee, Bailee, wake up. Wake up, sweetie."

Her efforts didn't work. Bailee just screamed louder. "NO!!!!"

"Bailee," Margaret shook the girl. "Bailee, wake up!"

Bailee's eyes snapped open, tears streaking down them. "Margaret. . ." She trailed off as her eyes caught something hanging up on the wall. "Who's that?" She asked, pointing at the cross.

"His name is Jesus. He's here to watch over you. To protect you."

"Jesus," She smiled. "Jesus was there with me, Margaret."

"Where was he?"

"Hiding behind the couch. He held me so that I couldn't see Daddy kill Mommy and himself. He got off of his cross and he came to hold me."

THE END

  

  


End file.
